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bioRxiv · 10.1101/394718

Development of an eDNA method for monitoring fish communities: ground truthing in diverse lakes with characterised fish faunas

Li, J.·Hatton-Ellis, T. W.·Lawson Handley, L.-J.·Kimbell, H. S.·Benucci, M.·Peirson, G.·Haenfling, B.
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Abstract

O_LIAccurate, cost-effective monitoring of fish is required to assess the quality of lakes under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Recent studies have shown that environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is an effective and non-invasive method, which can provide semi-quantitative information on fish communities in large lakes.\nC_LIO_LIThis study further investigated the potential of eDNA metabarcoding as a tool for WFD status assessment by collecting and analysing water samples from eight Welsh lakes and six meres in Cheshire, England, with well described fish faunas. Water samples (N = 252) were assayed using two mitochondrial DNA regions (Cytb and 12S rRNA).\nC_LIO_LIeDNA sampling indicated the presence of very similar species in the lakes compared to those expected on the basis of existing and historical information. In total, 24 species were detected with a total of 111 species occurrences in the lakes studied using eDNA. Secondly, there was a significant positive correlation between expected faunas and eDNA data in terms of confidence of species occurrence (Spearmans r = 0.74, df = 109, p <; 0.001). Thirdly, eDNA data can estimate relative abundance with the standard five-level classification scale (\"DAFOR\"). Lastly, four ecological fish communities were characterised using eDNA data which agrees with the pre-defined lake types according to environmental characteristics.\nC_LIO_LISynthesis and applications. This study provides further evidence that eDNA metabarcoding could be a powerful and non-invasive monitoring tool for WFD purpose in a wide range of lake types, considerably outperforming other methods for community level analysis.\nC_LI

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Li, J., Hatton-Ellis, T. W., Lawson Handley, L.-J., Kimbell, H. S., Benucci, M., Peirson, G., Haenfling, B.. 2018-08-23. Development of an eDNA method for monitoring fish communities: ground truthing in diverse lakes with characterised fish faunas. https://doi.org/10.1101/394718

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